Flyers 5 takeaways: ‘Best way to respond is the way we did, beating them’

Philadelphia Flyers right wing Travis Konecny, center, celebrates with center Nolan Patrick (19) after scoring a goal as New Jersey Devils defenseman Will Butcher (8) lies in the goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game Friday, March 1, 2019, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)(Photo: Julio Cortez, AP)

NEWARK — It’s games like Friday night that might’ve gave the Flyers pause to trade Wayne Simmonds.

The big winger had been the Flyers’ sherriff for nearly a decade and when the injury-decimated New Jersey Devils had mostly forwards from the minors and one of them drove Nolan Patrick into the boards head first, Simmonds wasn’t around to take care of it. He was traded to Nashville on Monday.

Kurtis Gabriel got a five-minute major in the first period and then he and Patrick met again in the third period once the Flyers had built a lead. They finished with a 6-3 win.

“That’s obviously the way that guy plays,” said Patrick, who threw a hard shoulder into Gabriel in the third period. The Devils forward left the game to enter concussion protocol as Patrick had in the first period. “He’s in their lineup for a reason, to do that, I guess. Best way to respond is the way we did, beating them.”

It seemed like all the physical stuff took a back seat for the second period and into the third. Travis Konecny scored the first of his two goals in the last minute of the second period, a lucky tally he didn’t even see go in.

Devils goalie Cory Schneider tried to pokecheck the puck and it went off Konecny’s leg, off Schneider’s skate, off forward Kevin Rooney and in. The Flyers had their foot on the gas to start the third period when Sean Couturier scored 27 seconds in and then things started to come to a head once again.

Midway through the frame, after Patrick’s retaliatory hit that wasn’t called for interference, it got ugly.

“When Gabriel was…you know, you guys all saw what he was doing, it was just a matter of trying to protect ourselves and Patty’s one of my good buddies so I’m gonna stick up for him every time someone’s messing with him,” said Konecny, who was penalized for cross-checking Sami Vatanen. “That’s all it is. Everyone’s sticking together and we’re a close team so that’s not gonna fly with us.

“Teams probably look at us differently (without Simmonds) but we’re still the same team. We still stick together. I think Simmer left a lot of that with us, taught us young guys to stick up for our teammates. It’s just not gonna fly.”

“The whole game he was running around,” interim coach Scott Gordon added. “There’s a right time and a wrong time to (retaliate) and as it turned out, he ends up getting hurt and kicked out of the game. I don’t know how clean those hits were but obviously he one from behind on Patty was wrong and then the other one…he’s just chasing people at that point.”

Here are four more takeaways from Friday night’s game…

Late arrival

Considering the Flyers viewed Friday’s game as a must-win, they were nowhere to be found in the first few minutes of it. Even with a five-minute power play, they couldn’t get anything going and in fact the Devils had a couple prime opportunities while shorthanded that Cam Talbot had to stop.

It wasn’t until James van Riemsdyk’s first goal of the night, on the Flyers’ second power play, that they erased all the poor play and started performing like they were in the driver’s seat against an injured Devils team with only five regulars among their 12 forwards.

“Back to backs are always tough especially when you get in pretty late the night after the first game,” van Riemsdyk said. “It was a little bit of a scrambly start for us, but I think we settled in. We bent but didn’t break and we went from there.”

With a late push, and van Riemsdyk’s second goal on a tremendous behind-the-net feed from Ryan Hartman, the Flyers went into intermission with a two-goal lead.

“Honestly, after the first we were glad that we were up two and we knew we didn’t play our best and then we let them back in it,” Konecny said. “It was definitely nice to get that one before the third.”

Talbot’s first win

Saturday marks two weeks since Talbot was traded to Philadelphia from Edmonton and you’d need to rewind another week to get his last game.

He was thrown into a division rivalry, which he was used to from his days with the New York Rangers.

“It always adds another element to the game, which is always fun,” said Talbot, who had 30 saves on 33 shots. “Had a lot of those games with the Rangers here, Long Island, even against us (in Philadelphia). It’s always fun to be part of those games. it adds another element which is always fun to play in.”

His biggest test was the shorthanded breakaway early in the game.

It gave him confidence being back in the net for the first time in a while and the team needed the stop as well.

“To get that save, at least we’re not starting the game on what looks like a real promising situation turning into a real negative situation quickly,” Gordon said. “Yeah, that was a huge save.”

Cam Talbot made 30 saves Friday night for his first win as a Flyer.(Photo: Courtesy of Zack Hill/Philadelphia Flyers)

Graduating week

With Phil Myers playing back-to-back nights and Andrew MacDonald sitting back-to-back nights, it sure seems like the former is here to stay. Myers has been very effective in every game he’s played, perhaps sans his debut in Detroit when he admitted he had some nerves.

Since then, he’s taken off with puck-moving skills, confidence and solid defending. It’s certainly early on in the process, but it looks like the Flyers hit again on a homegrown defenseman and several have played together. Myers, for instance, has played with Travis Sanheim in the minors as well as Samuel Morin, who has been activated but likely won’t play unless injuries or the playoff race dictates otherwise.

“I think we’re so familiar with each other that we haven’t really thought about it too much,” Sanheim said. “We all push each other and try to make each other better and communicate well. We’ve all got a pretty good friendship as well. It’s pretty easy when you’ve played with guys for so long to come up and have success together.”

What’s up next

After inching one point closer to a playoff spot, the Flyers will have to face the first-place New York Islanders twice and second-place Washington Capitals once this week.

Essentially, their playoff lives could be decided in the next three games.

“They’ll be ready,” Gordon said of the Islanders, his old club. “This will be a big challenge for us. They’ve obviously formed an identity over the course of the season and one that’s pretty good that they don’t give up a lot. It’ll be a challenge for us. All the games will be a challenge but it will be a different team, different style of play that we haven’t seen.”

“Yeah I mean I think it’s just gonna get tougher and tougher until the end of the year,” added Sean Couturier, who had one of the goals. “It’s that time of year where there’s not a whole lot of room and everyone needs to win and everyone’s fighting for a playoff spot. we’re a little behind and we need the points so we need to keep pushing and keep battling and finding ways to win.”